


And The Reversed Roles

by VirginiasWolf



Category: The Librarians (TV 2014)
Genre: F/M, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Multi, So yeah there's some angst here
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-09-22
Updated: 2018-11-29
Packaged: 2019-07-15 11:04:15
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 8,108
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16061795
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/VirginiasWolf/pseuds/VirginiasWolf
Summary: As if the first few months of Flynn and Eve's immortality haven't been enough of a challenge already, the reappearance of a familiar face seems to only further complicate everything.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is a reworking of a piece I'd started earlier. Two of the previously posted chapters will remain virtually the same, but the other two are being MAJORLY reworked. As for the not nice thing implied here first in chapter two, I'm hoping after I finish this story I can address it in one that takes place in the distant future of the Library, but for now I'm sorry...I apologize for the pain I am causing with it.

Moriarty's time on the other side with the Duchess and the Librarians had changed him. After Prospero stabbed him and he was returned to the world of 19th century London, something had felt different. Returning to his criminal empire felt wrong and instead, he tried to settle himself back into life as a professor. Although he was regarded as an unusually brilliant man, there was still a reputation he had to overcome.   
For that, he had decided to try another tactic. At first, he had only begun to solve a few minor cases, using his criminal knowledge to gain an upper hand on those who wronged innocent citizens. Soon, however, when that became almost too easy he had taken his personal detective work to bigger cases.   
It was purely by accident that his detective skills became far more prized than those of Sherlock Holmes. However, later he would realize that as if some mythical imbalance had been created, this was also around the time Holmes began to decline. It was this series of events that led to Moriarty lying on a couch in the sitting room of 221B Baker Street, stripped of his own free will with ropes biting into his wrists and ankles.   
Initially, he had been lured to the address by what he thought was a proposition to again work together. Although he had heard rumors that Holmes had slipped further in his sanity and could admit that he had little trust for the once great detective, Moriarty had accepted the offer. It was only after Holmes had been a little too eager to offer him an almond-scented beverage that Moriarty had realized he was in trouble. Although he had managed to spill the poisoned drink without touching as much as a drop, he had been placed off balance enough that two men who had once been his own henchmen had been able to take him by surprise and bind him.   
Without as much as bothering to search him for weapons, they had begun to beat him. Throughout this, Holmes had outlined his plans for Moriarty and the future. At first, it had seemed strange that London's great detective was literally doing a cheap villain revealing himself to the hero gimmick. However, there was something unidentifiable in Holmes's eyes that told Moriarty the great detective had long since ceased to exist and a darker force had begun to drive him. It was a force that lacked the careful logic Holmes has once held.   
Although Moriarty was bitter about the fate he was sure he would suffer, the beatings made him weary and within hours he was too weak to fight them. That was until he heard a familiar name mentioned. Flynn Carsen's name was the last one he expected to hear during Sherlock Holmes's villain monologue. However, it soon became clear that the head librarian, the duchess and all the other librarians would be the next targets after Moriarty succumbed to his injuries. Although in the past he had his disagreements with Mr. Carsen in particular, this was something his conscience could not allow to happen.   
He still had the pocket watch in the front pocket of his jacket. Of course, it was mostly a dead object now, not even one that could tell time. However, hoping that it was still connected somehow to the fairy Ariel and she would take pity on him seemed to be his only hope for escaping and warning the librarians.   
In the times when he was free from the beatings, although he was still guarded, he took to repeating the fairy's name over and over again in hopes that she would eventually hear him and choose to come to his rescue. Although it was clear it made the men watching him uncomfortable it seemed they had assumed the injuries had caused him brain damage and he was allowed to do so without them bothering to even warn Holmes.   
On the second day, the fairy swept into the room. The outfit she chose to wear was an exaggerated play on a wealthy Victorian woman complete with a hat with an oversized brim and a dress with a hoop skirt. As she entered the room she pulled out her wand and hit his captors with the same spell that she had previously used on him in Cicily. However, even as he watched both men swirl to the ground unconscious he was still unsure if she was willing to help him.   
"I don't remember this being part of your narrative," Ariel mused striding over to where he was sitting.   
At that moment Moriarty realized how truly weak he had been left as the only words he could manage to utter were "Help...librarians."   
He assumed that she would use her magic to make herself grow small again and possibly cross universes and fly into the vents of the library to warn them. As if she had read his thoughts she looked at him with pity before speaking. "I'm afraid because of your friends I have lost the energy to slip into the library. I might just be able to walk you out of here though."   
Although Moriarty was dubious with her claim of them being able to go unnoticed by those on the street he found himself desperately in need of an escape from the torture and hoped that very soon he would be able to warn the duchess and her librarians of the danger they were in.   
After Ariel managed to undo his bindings she began to walk away. "Follow me!"   
Moriarty tried to stand on his own only to find the process incredibly painful. The only response he could manage was "Can't."   
Ariel stopped and turned back to look at him. "Oh, you're broken just like a little dollie."   
For a second Moriarty debated attempting to form some sort of retort for her comparing him to a little girl's toy, but instead, he found himself relieved when she stopped to adjust her skirts and helped him to lean on her with surprising strength and agility for such a petite woman.


	2. Chapter 2

It had been almost two months since Eve Baird had gotten her first taste of what it felt like to lose a librarian. Logically, she had known that once she became immortal she would live to see many generations of librarians disappear before her eyes, but she'd had less than six months to enjoy her immortality when tragedy had first struck.   
The Library still had Cassandra, and if the closeness she seemed to be developing with Jenkins was any indication, she might be around for a very long time. However, Eve still couldn't shake the nightmares that had developed after Stone and Jones had been literally ripped out of her grasp during what had seemed to initially be a routine artifact retrieval. In the two months since it had been profoundly clear that they weren't coming back, but everything else had remained uncertain.  
As a result, not a night had gone by where Eve had slept without violent nightmares. Flynn, on the other hand, had begun to refuse to sleep at all. Instead, he usually paced or spent nights at his typewriter. Worst of all had been the complete lack of humor in the way he spoke though. In place of the usual peppy jokes and bright smiles was a man who now seemed much older and sadder. Somehow, they had still managed to stay close in all of this and for that she was relieved.   
Eve wasn't as sure about what exactly was happening with Cassandra and Jenkins, but it did seem like the last remaining librarian spent more nights inside the annex than outside of it. Except, Eve never quite knew where she slept and in the mornings she would always appear in the same place Jenkins happened to be.  
The missing links in the library were most felt during the daylight hours though. It had become almost normal for all four remaining members to gather in one room, but not speak to each other for hours.   
"Oh my god!" Cassandra yelped, dropping the brass vase she had been cleaning to the floor with a loud clang.  
The sudden noise caused Eve to immediately swivel her chair around. The almost spectral man before them looked as if he been through a war zone. His face alone was so swollen and bloodied that it was impossible for her brain to immediately identify him.   
It was only after Jenkins muttered something about tumbling over Reichenbach Falls that everything clicked. Eve had assumed that she'd already seen the last of James Moriarty, and as a result had done as much as possible to cover up everything she'd felt for him. However, with what seemed to be his ghost standing before her, everything was bubbling back to the surface and she suddenly felt powerless.  
Every fiber in her being wanted to immediately run over to him, but she knew she had to assess if the Library was in danger first. For all she knew, it could have been an illusion or a trap and she would be falling right into it.  
That was why it surprised her so much when Flynn, of all people, immediately rushed over to the man he had once sworn would always be a villain and reached out a hand to try to steady him. Flynn's hand immediately passed through Moriarty's arm as if he had been touching air. "There must be some kind of faulty magic connection."  
"The Library is trying to keep him out," Eve countered managing to swallow her feelings, even as Moriarty looked as if he was about to collapse.  
"The Library doesn't perceive him as a threat. This isn't on our end." Flynn retorted, looking almost angered at the suggestion. It was a strange twist that Flynn was suddenly so concerned about what was happening to Moriarty, but Eve couldn't find the strength to worry about it, for she too was deeply concerned.  
"Mr. Carsen is right. The Library would never let a perceived threat make it to the center of the Annex." Jenkins added.  
It was then that Eve noticed that Moriarty seemed to be trying to use up the last of his strength to say something. However, despite the movement of his lips, there was no sound.  
"Are you trying to tell us something?" Eve asked.  
Moriarty immediately tried to nod his head but this simple action caused him to stumble and fall to the floor. That was when it hit Eve that he wasn't just hurt, he was literally dying before their eyes.  
It seemed as if she wasn't the only one who came to that conclusion, because Cassandra murmured, "We have to do something."  
Even Jenkins and Flynn looked as if they wanted nothing more than to help the dying fictional.  
"Crystals!" Flynn stated after a second and Eve found herself looking to him with confusion.  
"Crystals? Flynn, this isn't the time for crystals!" Eve found herself exasperated.  
"Actually Eve, it's exactly the time for them. We can use them like rabbit ears to amplify the magic signal. We need to work fast though."  
Within seconds Cassandra was racing off to retrieve the needed crystals, while Jenkins went for his spellbook. This meant that Eve and Flynn were left alone with Moriarty, who had remained in a half kneeling position on the floor since he had stumbled.  
This only amplified the distress Eve found herself feeling at the situation. Seeking some way to comfort the fictional, and perhaps herself, Eve kneeled before him on the floor and placed a hand about an inch above his shoulder. She couldn't bear the thought of trying to place it upon him, only to have it fall through blank air. Furthermore, she wondered if by unintentionally slicing through his body she would only manage to injure him further.  
"You're going to be okay James. We'll make sure of that."  
When she looked up, Flynn was standing over the two of them. If Eve hadn't known better about how he felt about Moriarty, she would have almost sworn that his eyes looked moist.  
Before she had time to contemplate this though, Cassandra and Jenkins had both returned to the room.  
The ritual to bring Moriarty fully into the Library was a relatively simple one by Library standards. It would involve her and Flynn in a circle with Moriarty. Of course, they would have to be kneeling, because she didn't think the latter had the strength to stand again. In between her and Flynn's hands would be held the amplifying crystal and each of them would take one of Moriarty's hands as well. Finally was the part that Eve was sure meant the ritual was destined to fail. The two participants holding the crystal had to come up with strong and most definitely positive visualizations of the third person.  
However, Flynn must have managed to come up with something positive to think about Moriarty, for the ritual seemed to come together almost flawlessly. At least until the very last moment. By that point, Moriarty must have already been bought fully over to Flynn and Eve's side, for although she hadn't opened her eyes yet, Eve could feel his hand solidly in hers. Almost immediately Moriarty slipped though and fell hard to the Annex floor.  
The surge of magic through his body must have drained him of the last vestiges of strength, for when Eve opened her eyes there was something almost corpse-like about the form now lying prone on the Annex floor.  
Behind her, Cassandra murmured, "We were too late."


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It might help to picture Mark Sheppard as Sherlock Holmes and Timothy Hutton as John Watson, because that's who I pictured when I described the characters.

After they had both been freed from Prospero's grasp, Ariel assumed she'd seen Moriarty for the last time. Although she knew he had been as much a slave as she had, the way he had regarded her as a novelty item while she was trapped inside the watch had left the fairy irritated. Still, a leftover magic resin meant she retained a connection to the watch.  
At first, when his cries for help had sounded she had made a point of ignoring them, hoping that he would get the idea that she wasn't going to again be his servant. However, as the pleadings became more insistent and desperate Ariel was compelled to at least investigate why she was being called.  
There were so many men and guards she was forced to use her powers on only to investigate, that she almost hadn't noticed the figure lying on the blood-soaked couch and once she did, for a moment she assumed that he had died. However, her time spent in the watch had led to her forging a mental connection with Moriarty, if only so she could anticipate his next moves. It was the thoughts he unintentionally projected at her that convinced her to take pity on him. Although they had their differences, she was considered a compassionate fairy and that was enough to cause her to want to rescue Moriarty.  
The fictional for his part had been stubborn; repeatedly refusing anything that might give him a way to nurse his wounds. Eventually, she had managed to temporarily store him in the room of a boarding house owned by a woman so drunk she probably wouldn't have even noticed if Ariel had entered in full fairy form.  
There was one way that Ariel's magic could be quickly replenished, and as soon as she was sure that Moriarty wasn't going anywhere she set out to find something sugary to temporarily boost her magical powers.  
When she returned to the boarding house room, Moriarty was lying on the bed looking somehow worse than he had when she'd left him. However, when she cleared her throat he opened one eye and looked up at her expectantly.  
In that moment Ariel suddenly felt strong pity towards him. "You know, the spell is probably going to kill you."  
Moriarty was silent for so long that she almost thought he hadn't even heard what she had said, but when he finally spoke she realized he'd simply been trying to muster enough strength to form a complete sentence. "I refuse to stay the antagonist."  
Ariel was unsure what to say in response. From the time when she had been forced to work as his servant, she had grown to expect a man who was at times cocky and completely assured that he could never be wrong in his actions. Now, what she saw was someone who seemed more concerned about the fates of his once enemies than his own survival.  
After several minutes she was able to aid him in standing with only minimal support. However, she soon realized much to her own horror that her wand was missing meaning whatever magic she used would be far less concentrated and weakened even more than sugar induced magic already was.  
Unwilling to cause further worry to an already dying man, Ariel decided to continue the spell anyway without telling him about the problem. However, the weakened state of magic caused a faulty connection and Moriarty became silent and ghostly to both sides of the world.  
Whoever was on the other side seemed to recognize the faulty connection. If Moriarty's body wasn't completely short-circuited by the journey itself, he would automatically begin to heal on the other side. However, the excessive jolt of magic delivered almost directly to her body made Ariel feel weakened and instead of attempting to pursue Moriarty she was forced to undress and rest on the mattress.  
What must have been hours later, she awoke again. In her temporary disorientation, she realized that she was now sitting up chained to some sort of chair. It took her a second to notice that she was now back in the same parlor room she had previously rescued Moriarty from. Angrily she found herself trying to summon her magic to free herself from her binds.  
The man pacing in front of the chair smiled widely at her as he noticed her failure. Although he was someone that could be considered attractive by most standards, there was a cold cruelty in his eyes that told her he genuinely enjoyed committing acts of evil. "You're bound with iron. You see, I'm not a magic user like you are, but I do know a thing or two about trapping your kind."  
Unwilling to give the man she that was now sure had to be Sherlock Holmes any ground Ariel remained silent, hiding that she was vaguely impressed and horrified by his knowledge. Although everything he had done to Moriarty was unforgivable she suspected he believed he could use her magic somehow and would make every effort to keep her alive.  
When his comments garnered no reaction, Holmes became angry and something even darker briefly flashed in his eyes. "What did you do with him?"  
Even if Moriarty had managed to survive his journey into the Library, he was likely currently in no shape to face off again with Sherlock Holmes. In a split second, Ariel decided to attempt to lead the wayward detective on a wild goose chase. "He should wash up on the banks of the Thames in a few days."  
Holmes blinked for a second, not immediately comprehending what she was trying to say. It was the other man she now noticed, a plain looking man with curly brown hair, who spoke next. "Why is he in the Thames?"  
In this moment Ariel couldn't resist employing the knowledge she had about the Sherlock Holmes novels, even if it further irritated her captors. "Elementary my dear Watson, you killed Professor Moriarty."


	4. Chapter 4

"We weren't too late," Jenkins stated looking over the form on the Annex floor. "The professor has simply fallen into a coma. One that it may take days to recover from I might add, so it's entirely up to us to discover his true motives for entering the Library."  
Now that Moriarty was completely still, Eve had time to better examine his wounds and she took great detail in doing so as they worked to undress and clean his body. The moment she noticed the deep wounds at his wrists and ankles something knotted in her stomach. It wasn't just the horrific brutality that bothered her, but what these wounds seemed to confirm. This couldn't be the result of the famed tumble over Reichenbach Falls, that is unless Sherlock Holmes had played very dirty. "What did you get yourself into James?" she murmured as she stroked the palm of Moriarty's hand.  
"Multiple concussions, several cracked ribs, likely multiple lacerated organs, possibly even sepsis. I have to leave now." Before Eve could fully take in what Flynn had said, he had already rushed out of the room.  
"Well, that was weird, even for Flynn," Cassandra stated as she spread Moriarty's bloody clothes on the Annex table.  
Eve couldn't help but agree, "I have no explanation for that one."  
For several minutes there was silence and Eve concentrated on trying to better clean Moriarty's wounds. She was so focused on making sure that her movements didn't cause as much as an involuntary shudder from him that she almost forgot they weren't alone.  
"You really do love him don't you?" Cassandra asked coming up behind them.  
Immediately Eve found herself wanting to go into defensive mode. It was true that she still felt something for Moriarty, and seeing him injured only furthered the realization that her feelings were about more than being attracted to a pretty face. However, that didn't change anything. "I have a husband now."  
"Eve, relationships aren't about two people. Relationships are about love and love isn't restrained to just being between two people." Cassandra stated.  
Eve shook her head. The image of being in some form of romantic triad with Flynn and Moriarty was strange enough on its own, but the strangeness was only further highlighted by imagining exactly how the two men would regard each other in such a situation. "Which is exactly why nothing can change. There's definitely zero love between Flynn and James. I had to stop them from slapping each other to death."   
In any other circumstances the way Cassandra slowly backed away from Eve while looking between her and Moriarty with a confused stare would have been comical, but this time Eve was too tired to laugh.  
-  
Hours later, Eve had managed to banish Cassandra to wherever it was that she slept at night, but Flynn still hadn't returned after his mysterious departure and Jenkins was nowhere to be found meaning she was left alone with Moriarty who was on the floor still unconscious. His things were meticulously spread across the Annex table.  
It had become too hard to look constantly at the injured man, for every time she did so it seemed as if she immediately noticed a new wound and her stomach would only manage to coil further as she tried to understand how and why he'd been hurt.  
Instead, she chose to focus on the strange array of items that had been on him.  
From the way the items had been laid out, she managed to deduce that the small leather-bound book must have been inside the front pocket of his jacket. Unfortunately, like almost everything else, the material had been soaked through with James's blood. Carefully, she donned gloves and was about to open the small volume when Flynn entered the room.  
"Why is he still on the floor?" Flynn asked, dropping a large box into a corner of the room with a loud thud.  
Instead of answering him, Eve asked her own question, trying to keep the annoyance out of her voice. "Where were you?"  
Flynn gestured vaguely towards the box. "I had to find the storage room. Did you know it's moved to the other end of the Library? It's where the dinosaur room used to be. Now I have to figure out where that went before the T-Rex figures out how to pick the locks again. That would be a disaster."  
Eve was almost amused by the new knowledge of the Library having a dinosaur room that was complete with a lock-picking T-Rex, but more than anything she was annoyed by Flynn's disappearance. "Flynn, I know you don't exactly like Moriarty, but this is ridiculous! There is nothing in storage that could be so important that you had to rush off to get it!"  
Instead of responding, Flynn opened up the box and pulled out what appeared to be a grey men's suit jacket. Eve must have worn her confusion openly, because he immediately began to speak, gesturing to Moriarty's form as he did so. "It's his suit coat. I'm pretty sure it's the one he was wearing the day we all met, although the Professor clearly has no concept of owning a colorful wardrobe."  
The surprise at this revelation partially melted the anger Eve had held, but she still found herself somewhat wary and confused. "Flynn, why do you have Moriarty's suit jacket?"  
"It was in his apartment," Flynn answered acting as if the answer should have been obvious.  
"Which you were in because?"   
"Eve, you're asking way too many questions. Right now we need to move him to a bed, to our bed. He'll be much more comfortable there than on the floor." Flynn stated, walking over to where Moriarty was lying, wrapped in several blankets.  
Eve started to protest something about how she wasn't sure that her and Flynn alone could actually achieve the task of safely moving Moriarty when Jenkins suddenly appeared.  
After several minutes and much stumbling Moriarty had been safely moved to Flynn and Eve's bed, and Eve still found herself unsure how to react to Flynn's strange behavior. It seemed to become even odder the moment Jenkins left the room.  
Immediately, Flynn sat down in an overstuffed chair near the bed and began watching Moriarty. There was something surprisingly warm about the way he was doing so.


	5. Chapter 5

Flynn knew that Eve still believed that he hated Moriarty, and he didn't blame her. In the open, he'd given no reason for anyone to assume otherwise. That is except for Jenkins, for it was too hard to store an entire apartment's worth of boxes in the Library without tipping off the caretaker.  
In the four hundred years trapped in stone, he'd spent his time doing two things. On the outright, he was kissing Eve and he'd loved it, but in his mind, at times he was thinking of exactly how he could honor the memory of James Moriarty. The moment they'd became human again, he'd looked up the address that he had previously discovered Prospero was keeping Moriarty at and found that it was indeed owned by a James Worth. In a way, he'd hoped that once he arrived, Moriarty would answer the door, entirely annoyed that a librarian was intruding into his most personal domicile. However, the owner of the building said that the man in the penthouse suite had not been seen in several weeks, and furthermore, because he owned the suite and not rented it, they couldn't even enter it.  
With a little white magic, Flynn had convinced the man that he was a friend of James's and had been asked to pack up the apartment and ship the contents to their owner. It had taken nearly a week to fully clean the place, but Flynn had been sure he needed to do it alone.  
When cleaning was finished, Flynn had briefly considered keeping the apartment for the Library to use, but something told him that it would be too hard to explain that away to Eve, and he needed the money that could be made from selling it.  
After the apartment had been sold, Flynn had went about the second part of his plan to honor Moriarty's memory, which was to donate the money to make the shipwreck exhibit a permanent part of the Museum of History, and named in memory of the man who had worked so diligently to bring it to life. Flynn had told another white lie to the museum about how James Worth had developed a fast-moving, unfortunately untreatable cancer and had retreated to his home in London to live out his final days. Flynn, for his part, had claimed to be a close friend who had been there the night James had died and who had promised him that he would make sure the legacy lived on. This wasn't a complete lie, for Flynn had told Moriarty it wasn't the end of his story, except cancer was definitely not a magic staff.  
In the end, Flynn had almost been content to live with the belief that he'd done all he could, or at least he'd thought he was content until Moriarty appeared again.  
The moment he saw the injured fictional, Flynn had thrown all attempts at caution to the wind and tried to rush to his side to steady him. When this had failed, he'd eventually done what many now regarded as stereotypical behavior for him. He had ran. Except, what Eve and the others didn't yet realize was that Flynn had barely made it twenty feet down the main hall before he'd broken down into angry, guilty tears of self-blame.  
Even so, it was obvious that Eve was angry with him. As she stood in the doorway watching him watch Moriarty, there was a look in her eyes that seemed to be threatening him with bodily harm if he as much as misplaced a hair on Moriarty's scalp.  
Desperately, he wanted to tell her that he wouldn't as much as dream about hurting Moriarty, but he couldn't find the words. "Come here," he found himself motioning for her to sit next to him in the chair.  
Although the angry expression remained, Eve yielded quickly and nestled into his side. Flynn had hoped she'd try to start a conversation and distract him briefly from the man in the bed, but she remained silent.  
-  
Although it had been an entirely sleepless night for him, Flynn had remained in the chair. Eventually, Eve had fallen asleep next to him, but when she'd lapsed into nightmares he had moved her to a free spot on the bed in hopes that the new position would calm her.  
The quietness had almost been worse though because it caused his mind to focus more on the condition of the other person in the room. For hours, Flynn watched Moriarty intently, to the point that had the other man awoken, he would surely have felt uncomfortable.  
In the morning, Flynn noted, with some relief, that the fictional was at least returning to a healthy complexion. He had a feeling it would still be hours, if not another day, before he would wake up though. For this reason, it felt more crucial than ever to make up for lost time on solving the mystery of the fictional's presence.  
When Flynn entered the Annex, Cassandra was already at the main table and greeted him with concern. "Flynn, do you happen to know where Moriarty is?"  
"Didn't Jenkins tell you that we moved him to mine and Eve's private quarters?"  
"We didn't really talk much last night," Cassandra offered. However, it almost seemed as if she found the notion of moving Moriarty to be oddly humorous. After a moment she asked, "So, is he awake yet?"  
Flynn couldn't help but sigh, "Not yet, which is why it's up to us to play detective."  
Spread out on the table before them was almost every article of clothing that Moriarty had been wearing. Of course, this didn't include the undergarments, which were obviously still on their owner. The contents of each pocket, most of which were stained with blood, had been laid out next to the piece of clothing they had been taken from.  
To Flynn, the most interesting item seemed to be a small vellum and parchment book that appeared to be some sort of day planner. Cautiously Flynn opened the front cover and read the title page "If found, please return to James Moriarty, Consulting Detective." After a pause to take in what he had just read, Flynn couldn't help but marvel at the implications, "You rewrote your own story, you crafty bastard."


	6. Chapter 6

Cassandra had almost learned to adjust to life as the only mortal in the Library. The disappearances of the other two mortal librarians had nearly broken her and initially, she had worried that she would also crumble and fade away. Although the others in the Library were immortal, it was obvious they had also been shaken. Eve and Flynn had both turned into shadows of themselves. Flynn had completely stopped with all attempts at humor and it was rare to see him crack a smile. Although she had once been perfectly tailored in her fashion choices, Eve had seemingly stopped putting as much effort in her clothing style. She also seemed to have blocked herself off from everybody outside of Flynn. Galahad, on the other hand, had become surprisingly softer and the blossoming relationship this had led to had become a welcome distraction. 

Although the fresh change in her relationship with Galahad had been welcome, it had only served to mildly soften the angst she felt and putting her life back together had been incredibly hard. Slowly, she was achieving it though. Or at least she'd thought she was until the events of the past day had flipped everything out of order.

Neither Flynn or Eve had talked about what exactly had happened the last time they'd seen Moriarty, but it had seemed as if both were shocked by his return. Galahad had seemed irritated as well, and as a result, she couldn't read anything about how he felt.

At one point the previous night she had awoken to find him returning from what she later would realize must have been helping Flynn and Eve move Moriarty. When she'd tried to press him for answers he'd only wearily told her to go back to sleep.

The next morning she'd immediately went to the main room of the annex, hoping to make sense of what had happened and maybe see if the fictional was awake and up to answering any questions. Instead, what she'd found was a room curiously devoid of Moriarty, although traces of him were everywhere, proving the previous day had been more than simply a bad dream.

She was about to alert Flynn and Eve of the absence of their unexpected guest when Flynn walked into the room. It wasn't unusual for him to look tired, but there seemed to be another layer of exhaustion to him, as he hadn't even changed out of the previous day's clothes. She could only assume the exhaustion would get worse once he realized Moriarty was missing.

"Flynn, do you happen to know where Moriarty is?"

Much to Cassandra's surprise, the question seemed to cause Flynn to look less exhausted and almost calmer and he answered with a question of his own, "Didn't Jenkins tell you we moved him to mine and Eve's private quarters?"

For a second, Flynn's question further surprised Cassandra. Flynn and Eve were so private about their quarters that even she had barely seen the inside of them, and now Flynn had moved the man he claimed to hate to them. 

"So, is he awake yet?"

Whatever calmness Flynn had seemed to briefly feel disappeared again and he almost looked sad when he responded with, "Not yet, which is why it's up to us to play detective."

For a few minutes, they worked in silence and Cassandra tried to examine what appeared to be the watch that the fairy Ariel had been imprisoned in. There didn't seem to be anything special about it, and it didn't even appear to work properly, but perhaps it had been a sentimental object. That is if fictionals could be sentimental. 

She was so caught up in her examination that she barely heard the first part of Flynn's comment, and his excited exclamation made her jump, dropping the watch back to the table. "What is it?"

"It's his consulting book...for cases," Flynn answered, thumbing through the small book in his hands. He was currently wearing what seemed to be his first genuine smile in months.

This comment immediately threw Cassandra off. "It's been a while since I've read any of the Sherlock Holmes stories, but Moriarty wasn't a detective, was he?"

"Not originally, but after Prospero..." Flynn trailed off and returned to thumbing through the book, with the smile instantly fading from his face. "I'm trying to find his most recent entries."

Although silence wasn't uncommon in the Library as of late, there was something about this particular silence that felt especially unbearable, and Cassandra found herself curious too, about exactly how Flynn felt about the current situation.

"Do you think he's trying to hurt the Library?" Cassandra asked timidly. 

She expected Flynn to immediately make some comment about how annoyed he was about having Moriarty back in the Library, and how unsafe it would be. Instead, his answer was different. Much to Cassandra's surprise, Flynn almost sounded annoyed with her when he responded, "He's not the villain anymore."

"I just thought, because of his history with the the Library you might be concerned," Cassandra stated, trying to figure out how to rationalize Flynn's annoyance. From what she had understood about his relationship with Moriarty, he should be angry at the very presence of Moriarty in the Annex, yet his reasons for irritation seemed far different.

"I promised him I wouldn't let his story end. He came here for help." After a few minutes silence where it seemed as if Flynn was debating whether or not to share something with Cassandra he finally seemed to decide that he actually wanted to speak, "I'm not going to let him leave the Library this time."

Cassandra initially wasn't sure exactly how to interpret Flynn's words. In a way, they sounded like a vaguely veiled threat to entrap Moriarty within the walls of the Library. Unsure of how to respond, she managed to squeak out, "I don't think Eve will approve of you trapping him here."

"And for very good reason. Trapping is quite rude and only serves to make the victim feel well, trapped. Recruitment is a far more effective strategy when trying to form alliances." Flynn clarified.

After the relief of realizing that Flynn's intentions seemed fairly good-natured, Cassandra couldn't help but press on. It wasn't necessarily her place to play matchmaker, but her mind kept returning to watching Eve the previous day. When she had tended to Moriarty's wounds, it had felt as if a part of the guardian, that Cassandra had assumed was dead, had returned. Furthermore, Flynn also currently seemed to be more alive and expressive than he had been in the past. She had to figure out how to phrase her comments carefully to hide her true intentions. "Isn't it strange how love can crop up in the most unexpected places?"

"I don't think I follow," Flynn looked up from the book with a confused expression on his face.

"I was just thinking out loud. About my relationship with Galahad. We're really not conventional, because of the age difference," she paused to clarify, "But in a way, we're in a way we're not that strange either. I mean, nowadays there are even relationships that are made up of more than two people, and they live perfectly normal and happy lives so..." Cassandra allowed herself to trail off when she realized that she had unintentionally gotten too close to the truth of what she was attempting.

However, Flynn didn't seem to notice what she had said. Thumbing to a page in the middle of the book he mumbled, "This is very bad."

Before Cassandra could lean over to look at the page, he passed the book over to her and she read the final entry out loud. "I have a meeting with Sherlock Holmes at 2:30 today. I am unsure what I am walking into, but he requested my presence. Even so, I can't help but feel Holmes has become a bit of a madman and feel I must remain vigilant." 

Before she had even finished the reading, Flynn had already disappeared.


	7. Chapter 7

Of course, the new tension had only served to add another layer to Eve's already violent nightmares. In fact, she had been surprised that she had even been able to sleep, but the basic human instinct to escape from everything had won over. It hadn't helped that Flynn was, of course, being Flynn. He seemed so intent on not letting Moriarty out of his sight that she was surprised he hadn't put the unconscious man in handcuffs. This was all on top of the incredibly invasive behavior of apparently cleaning out his apartment to keep what she assumed must be incredibly devious socks and undergarments from wreaking havoc on the world.

She had hoped that in the morning light she'd at least be able to talk some sense into him, but when she opened her eyes she discovered two things; it was past noon, and Flynn was nowhere to be found. Instead, he had left her lying in bed next to Moriarty's still unconscious form. At least the Library had given them a strangely large bed and she hadn't rolled into the unconscious man.

"What the hell was he thinking?" she mumbled to no one in particular, suddenly feeling irritated with what she felt was her husband acting incredibly strange and childish.

It didn't help that she still wasn't sure she even wanted to be left alone with Moriarty when he was in this state. When he had been left in the main area of the annex, at least Cassandra had been there to provide a frustratingly accurate commentary on all the things she refused to admit, meaning she didn't have to truly focus on what any of this meant.

Trying to avoid jostling the bed, Eve sat up carefully. She was about to shower and change when Flynn suddenly burst into the room.

"You're awake," he stated. All Eve could manage to do was glare at him and he added, "And angry?"

It felt like typical Flynn fashion for him not to even be aware of what exactly he was doing to irritate those around him, and that only served to make it all the more frustrating. "Of course I'm angry! You're acting like a child!" she couldn't help but spit back at him, not even caring that there was someone else in the room. It wasn't like Moriarty was in any condition to complain.

"How am I acting like a child?!" Flynn raged back.

"It's the way you're treating this whole situation! I'm surprised you haven't put him in handcuffs yet!" she gestured to Moriarty's form as she spoke.

It seemed to take Flynn a second to process her comment, but the moment he did he suddenly looked more confused than angry. "I...why would I put Moriarty in handcuffs? I don't want him to feel like a prisoner here. He clearly came to us for help, and I fully intend to provide it."

Something about the change in Flynn's attitude began to cause Eve's anger to dissipate and instead found it being replaced with frustration. "You broke into his apartment, Flynn, and stole his belongings."

"The landlord gave me a key, and I didn't steal anything. I just packed it up for him," Flynn stated, sitting down at the edge of the bed closest to her.

"I suppose you're going to claim you were just storing them for Moriarty until he needed them again," the comment was supposed to come out as bitterly sarcastic, but Flynn seemed to read it as completely matter of fact.

"That's actually exactly what I was doing."

"Why?"

"I just...I had a feeling we'd see him again," Flynn stated, reaching out to pull Eve close to him before kissing the top of her head, "Not like this though."

The silence that followed was comforting, but after several minutes, Flynn spoke again, with his face still buried in Eve's hair, "You know, he changed his story. He's one of the good guys now."

Eve couldn't help but partially pull away and quickly look back at Moriarty's form in confusion. She wanted what Flynn was saying to be true because it presented a chance for there to be a place with the Library for Moriarty, but nothing in the original stories had painted him as a hero. "How do you know that?"

"That book in his pocket was a detective's consulting book. The last entry was about a meeting with Sherlock Holmes..."

It had seemed as if Flynn was about to say something more, but he was interrupted by a soft whimper from behind them. Immediately, both heads turned to the source of the sound and Eve realized she was holding her breath as they watched to see if Moriarty was truly about to awaken. Although his body had seemed to heal at a surprising rate, multiple painful looking bruises and cuts remained on his form, and part of Eve hoped he'd remain asleep just a little longer so that they would have more time to heal.

Instead, the fictional opened his eyes and immediately looked around at his surroundings before noticing that he wasn't alone. For a second, there almost seemed to be a look of panic on his face.

Eve couldn't help but reach out to him, and much to her relief, Flynn didn't try to stop her as she laid a hand on Moriarty's cheek. "You're safe now James. Nobody can hurt you anymore."

Moriarty tried to sit up in the bed before speaking, "Duchess, I don't think any of us are safe."

"From the person who hurt you?" Eve asked.

"Yes, I'm afraid he wants to come after your Library as well," Moriarty stated shaking his head sadly before wincing.

"Is that person Sherlock Holmes?" Flynn asked and for a moment Eve almost jumped, as she had been so caught up in tending to Moriarty that she had forgotten about Flynn's presence.

Moriarty remained quiet for a moment and Eve was almost sure she felt his body tensing up at Flynn's words. That was when she realized that he was expecting Flynn to berate him, no matter what he said in response. Perhaps he even thought that Flynn was purposely trying to start a fight by suggesting that Sherlock Holmes might be the perpetrator. 

"You have to tell us if that's who hurt you." Eve tried to make her voice sound as soothing as possible in hopes that Moriarty would feel safe opening up.

"You wouldn't believe me anyway," Moriarty stated, letting his eyes dart to Flynn.

"Oh, that's absolute nonsense. We'd have no reason to doubt that you were telling the truth," Flynn stated. His voice sounded sincere enough, and Eve had a feeling from his earlier words that he probably meant exactly what he was saying, but his tone seemed to make Moriarty even more uncomfortable.

As much as she wanted to stay and try to calm down Moriarty, Eve realized they would be extremely unlikely to get any information as long as they were simply hovering over him while he laid in bed.

The only solution seemed to be to pull Flynn into the other room and work out a new plan over what to do. It also meant she had to request for her husband to change his behavior in a way she initially never would have expected. "Flynn, I need you to stop being so polite to him."

Flynn tilted his head in confusion as he looked at her. "So, now you want me to be rude to him? That doesn't really make much sense."

Eve shook her head. There was something almost pure about the way Flynn seemed to have completely shed off all past animosity he'd had for the fictional, but at the moment the most important thing was figuring out how to get Moriarty to feel comfortable enough to open up. "That's not what I meant Flynn. He needs to feel safe, and I don't think he trusts you yet and he's not going to start doing so if he doesn't realize that you're actually being sincere."

For a moment, Flynn's face fell and Eve immediately found herself hating what she'd said to him.

Wanting to remedy the situation, she quickly planted a kiss on his lips before adding, "I think I have an idea."


End file.
